Mike Conaway: “I thank my colleague from Texas for yielding and for those very kind words. I thank Chairman Engel and Mr. McCaul, the…”

“I thank my colleague from Texas for yielding and for those very kind words. I thank Chairman Engel and Mr. McCaul, the ranking member, for bringing this resolution forward. I rise today in strong support of the passage of my resolution calling for the immediate release of Trevor Reed. For the past 475 days, Trevor Reed, an eighth-generation Texan, Eagle Scout, and, more importantly, a United States Marine veteran, has been held in a Russian prison camp for crimes he did not commit. The Putin regime is clearly using Trevor as a political pawn. If they do not release him, he will be forced to serve an additional 9 years in a Russian prison camp, making it almost 10 years, total, that Trevor and his family will endure this nightmare. Trevor was initially detained by Moscow's Police Service in August of 2019 for public intoxication, but after the Russian intelligence agency identified him as a U.S. Marine, they upped the charge, now accusing him with endangering the lives of two police officers. {time} 1700 Their claims were undeniably disproved by Trevor's defense team. The accusation, and the lack of evidence to support it, was so absurd that even the Russian judge erupted in laughter during his trial. Yet the judge disregarded all evidence, witnesses, and government experts by choosing to sentence Trevor to the harshest punishment ever given for this alleged crime in this particular classification.…”